Un Chien Andalou

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Luis Buñuel directs. Albert Duverger behind the camera. Luis Buñuel cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in France. Dialogue in No Language.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Tight 17-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
• 2Shot for just $0.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 397 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 5Directed by Luis Buñuel, shot by Albert Duverger. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Editor Luis Buñuel shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Simone Mareuil and Pierre Batcheff and Luis Buñuel carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "Once upon a time...".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0020530 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Classified under 13 themes, including "dreams", "donkey", "cloud", "razor".
• 11Released under 26 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Albert Duverger

Editing

Luis Buñuel

Runtime

17 min · 0h 17m

Status

Released

Budget

$124,797

Original language

FR

IMDB

Un Chien Andalou (1929) ↗

Also by

Luis Buñuel

• 
  The Young and the Damned

  1950 · ★ 8.1
• 
  The Exterminating Angel

  1962 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Viridiana

  1962 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Él

  1953 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Simon of the Desert

  1965 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Nazarín

  1959 · ★ 7.6

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Un Chien Andalou (1929) A Short Film by Luis Bunuel

  Featurette
• 

  ▶
  Un Chien Andalou - Trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Dsnake12019-10-12
  ★ 5/10

  Nothing. Something. Anything. Meh. I think I understand why so many people are into this film, and I do understand why it's so influential. The thing is, I'm not sure I care about any of that. Yeah, surrealism. So it's something. Or it's not something. Or it's anything. Or really, it's nothing. To me, it's meh. It's not bad, and I can't say it was nearly a waste of my time. Coming in at just over a quarter of an hour, I've spent longer watching the last two minutes of a basketball game when I didn't even care about who won. While I don't think it was a waste of my time, it didn't really add anything to my day, either. Maybe I'll have to come back and review this if the film sticks with me, but I can't imagine this will do so. It's not my first experience with surrealism, and I'm certainly not the type to ponder of the concept for hours, especially not recently. I'd also argue that this film does nothing to provoke thought on its own. It might be a guiding point to long sessions of thought regarding existence and meaning, but I'm not sure how many people would get there without reading up on the film and surrealism at the least. So, ultimately, meh.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• BI

  Billancourt Studios

Key crew

• ProducerLuis Buñuel
• Art DirectionPierre Schild
• EditorLuis Buñuel
• CinematographyJimmy Berliet

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• dreams
• donkey
• cloud
• razor
• ant
• surreal
• surrealism
• priest
• death
• psychotronic
• severed hand
• piano
• short film

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1929-06-05

Also known as

International titles

• 安达卢西亚之犬CN
• An Andalusian DogUS
• Un perro andaluzAR
• Андалузкото кучеBG
• Um Cão AndaluzBR
• Andaluský PesCZ
• Der andalusische HundDE
• Ein andalusischer HundDE
• Den andalusiske hundDK
• Un perro andaluzES
• Andalusialainen koiraFI
• An Andalusian DogGB
• Andaluzijski pasHR
• Andalúziai kutyaHU
• Un cane andalusoIT